The Things We Thought We Knew

Debut novels come and go, every writer has one inside of them. Some writers come later in life, some come after years of writing at university. Sometimes they come from the spirit of youth.  Mahsuda Snaith is one of those youthful writers, who wrote a novel first draft at the age of 16 went to university and returned to it finding amongst the cringeful first draft errors only experience would notice, a book that was full of well-rounded characters.

The Things We Thought We Knew, tells the story of Ravine, a young British Bangladeshi woman who lies in her bed plagued by chronic pain syndrome following the disappearance of her friend Marianne. They were best friends yet Ravine is trapped to her bed. The novel follows the belligerent mother, Amma, who will not take a no for an answer from her daughter, prompting her to get out of bed and vote knowing she is capable of progress.

"Council estate life has been represented in literature before, but always in a very dark, gritty way. That just wasn’t my experience of growing up on a council estate: it wasn’t all doom and violence and drugs, some of the stuff I came across was quite comic, so I wanted to reflect that.”

Ravine is drawn as a rebellious teen who wants to remain in her fixed state and not alter her surroundings.  That is what the book is about, change and how it changes people around it. Starting at Ravine's 18th birthday party and the impending election she can vote at, Amma makes a beeline to change her domestic surroundings and move Ravine from her funk.

Written with delicate nuance with clever observations of familial relationships and interpersonal behaviour, the book is also about recall and memory - it easily could have been placed in the same genre of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, yet this is set in a Leicester council estate which gives the book greater character and realism than Green's wonderlust piece.

Snaith's debut novel is one that will contain something for everyone and wish more books were written such as it.

The Things We Thought We Knew is released from Penguin Random House on 15th June in Hardback/eBook

Shark by Will Self

As part of its ongoing creative partnership, WeTransfer<http://we.tl/shark> is collaborating with Penguin Books for the official unveiling of the global artwork for Will Self’s new book, Shark.

This collaboration will make an excerpt of the book available to read, absolutely free and without any need to sign-up, exclusively to WeTransfer’s 55 million global users.

Shark is a mind-bending novel, centring around an incredible real event – the largest ever shark attack in human history, when nearly 600 men were killed after the sinking of the US naval vessel that delivered the bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima.

WeTransfer will be showcasing the book’s striking cover in a unique still life photograph that will link to retail partner Waterstones.com where people can pre-order the title a month ahead of its official launch this September.

Nalden, Chief Marketing Officer and Co-founder of WeTransfer, said: “Striking imagery has been a mainstay of WeTransfer; showcasing the work of exciting artists is an integral part of our user-experience. Likewise, Penguin has continuously enlisted adventurous designers with a strong vision to bring its publications to life, showcasing that printed books are still a canvas for creativity.

“As design enthusiasts ourselves, Penguin is a company we have always admired, not only for their timeless designs but also their innovative approach to digital communication. One of the previous covers we displayed achieved more than 25,000 clicks to Penguin’s online store in 27 days, so whilst we’re delivering stunning imagery on our platform, we’ve shown our global user-base obviously enjoy these books covers as much as we do.”

The launch of artwork for Will Self’s latest novel is just the latest in a series of projects between Penguin Books and WeTransfer, which aim to bring together print and digital creativity.

Celeste Ward-Best, Campaigns Executive at Penguin Books UK, said: “We’re delighted to partner with WeTransfer to unveil the daring cover of Will Self’s, Shark. WeTransfer is one of the most exciting and progressive online businesses out there and we’ve long admired their commitment to showcasing timeless and innovative design.”

The excerpt from Shark is one typical of The Self prose; highly unorthodox with its broken syntax and structure which from the outside can make it seem a hard read, yet it remains engaging and original as one would expect from one of Britain's most respected authors.  The book promises to be one of the highlights of the Autumn slate of releases, and cement Self at the top of the literati in Britain.

To read an exclusive excerpt of Shatk before the 4th September release, going to the following website:  http://www.penguinblog.co.uk/extracts-2/read-an-exclusive-extract-of-shark-by-will-self

And enter in the password: wetransfer

There is also a chance to see the exclusive cover artwork on this link: http://we.tl/shark